


Darkened Rooms and Warm Nights

by thetiniestnerd



Category: Hot Wheels: Battle Force Five
Genre: ADHD!AJ, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sickfic, Tezz probably has PTSD or something, a stupid amount of cuddling, anxious!Tezz, autistic!Tezz, descriptions of panic attacks, he definitely has trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 23:23:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15568632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetiniestnerd/pseuds/thetiniestnerd
Summary: Tezz doesn’t really understand A.J., from his golden retriever-esque demeanor to the attention and care he gives to each and every member of the team, Tezz included. Tezz, in an attempt to understand A.J., decides to join in on his movie nights more. In the process, he finds himself enjoying the movies a lot, as well as A.J.’s company.That certainly helps.





	Darkened Rooms and Warm Nights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LacePendragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LacePendragon/gifts), [Lyssita_Lennon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyssita_Lennon/gifts).



> For anyone wondering, I’m writing A.J.’s ADHD in a similar way to how mine works. Hence why he has a hard time sitting through movies without fidgeting, pausing, or getting distracted. He and Spinner both have ADHD in my mind; maybe someday I’ll write something about Spinner’s experience. But for now, have some ADHD A.J. loving movies and being a cute little fuck with Tezz.  
> I also added the whole hurt/comfort and sickfic bit because goddamnit that was my crack when I first got into fandom like 7 or 8 years ago and I’ve never actually written it. So this fic is a little self-indulgent. Sue me.

 

There were a lot of things about A.J. that Tezz didn’t understand. His general state of excitement; the fact that he’d performed plenty of dangerous stunts that he certainly didn’t understand the mathematics of and yet had not died; the attention he gave Tezz’s studies even though he barely understood the fundamentals. He was a veritable mystery, in Tezz’s professional opinion.

Another of those things about him that Tezz couldn’t wrap his head around was his love of movie nights. He could barely sit still during a movie, not that Tezz was surprised. It had taken Tezz all of five seconds upon meeting him to know that he had some form of attention deficit, and all of two minutes on the internet to recall the name for it in Serbian and translate it to English. 

He’d asked A.J. about it, not long after he’d joined the team. He’d just smiled and told Tezz that, yes, he had ADHD, and he’d known since middle school. Tezz had wondered aloud how that might affect one’s experience, and A.J. had smiled and offered to tell him about what middle school was like for him before and after his diagnosis.

Tezz didn’t have to feign interest in the topic. A.J. didn’t have the most academic understanding of it, but the way he explained things was… captivating, if Tezz had to choose such a word. It also explained some of his behaviours around Vert, since the two had gone to school together. 

The conversation that night had eventually strayed from middle school to stunts, and eventually A.J. had asked Tezz what school was like in Serbia. Tezz had thought that he was just trying to be polite, but as he’d explained his family life and the way that he was homeschooled, he found that A.J. was giving him his full attention.

Tezz had noted a warm feeling in his chest. He’d later chalked it up to being tired.

That conversation had occurred almost a year ago now, and since then A.J. had fully settled into the team dynamic. He’d become the second member of the Defense Force 5, followed only a few days later by Viv. Soon after her had come Jax, and Sun had joined them less than a month after that. 

The Hub was a much busier place than it had been when Tezz had first arrived, and even then it had seemed too crowded to him. He supposed nine to ten years alone on a Red Sentient moon would do that to most people, though. Still, he preferred to stay in the lower levels of the Hub when they weren’t on missions, running calculations and simulations with Sage, Corona, and Kero. Corona in particular spent a lot of time with Tezz. She knew much about the multiverse, and Tezz often asked her for more information and stories. He liked knowing as much as he could about the multiverse.

The others usually vacated the Hub when it wasn’t necessary for them to be there, preferring the apartment above the garage. Tezz was thankful that the number of bedrooms upstairs had worked out well for them and he hadn’t been forced to share his room. By the time he’d joined the team, Vert and Zoom had been dating for a few months and Zoom had gladly cleaned out and relinquished his bedroom to Tezz. There had been a spare bedroom at the time as well, but it had been full of miscellaneous belongings. It was tidied up when A.J. had arrived. Then Viv had come along, and for a while the brothers had been forced to share a room, until she kicked Spinner out of said room and started sharing with Sherman. The two had started dating in a much shorter timeframe than Vert and Zoom, to Tezz’s understanding. 

The extra bed from Sherman’s room had been shoved into the room Spinner now used, and for a while it had been Jax’s. But then Spinner and Jax had also started dating, and the extra bedframe had been unnecessary again. 

Sun had made the arrangement a little more complicated. There were seven bedrooms, and at the time, one belonged to Vert and Zoom, one to Agura, one to Stanford, one to Sherman and Viv, one to Spinner and Jax, one to A.J., and one to Tezz. Thankfully, Sun was able to stay with Grace when needed. Tezz hadn’t understood why the others joked about it so much at the time, until Zoom had informed him, casually and without judgement one evening, that it was because she and Grace were sleeping together and trying to be secretive about it.

Tezz had appreciated that Zoom had taken the time to explain, if he was honest.

Within a week of Sun’s arrival, however, Stanford had stopped sleeping in his own room. It had taken Tezz about a week to realize that it was because of Agura, in the same sense as Sun and Grace, though apparently that had been going on much longer than Tezz had even been there and they simply hadn’t been admitting it. The team had eventually designated Stanford’s old room as Sun’s. She didn’t seem to use it much though. 

Tezz had never really understood romance. Spinner liked to joke about it being because of his years on the moon, but Tezz wasn’t so sure. Logically and theoretically, he understood it. He admired it, in some way. But the way the others described their feelings when it came to romance, and in general the way romance was explained, Tezz didn’t quite understand. He’d never felt it himself. He wondered sometimes if Spinner was somehow right; if he’d missed some important, invisible milestone because of his accidental disappearance. 

But despite it, his life was good. He was  _ happy _ . He’d never truly expected to get off the Red Sentient moon, and when he had, he’d expected to eventually drift away from the team, or to be shunned. He had been short-tempered and rude to them, after all, and he certainly hadn’t made their lives easier in the beginning. But they had become like a family to him, in a sense. He hadn’t thought so at first, but as time had passed he’d started to grow used to the idea. He’d heard Vert say it a few times, and he’d thought it was weird at first to consider people you weren’t related to a family. But over time he’d come to understand that that wasn’t uncommon. He liked it. 

He’d called them his family out loud, once, in the kitchen. The others had been sitting around the table or on the couches - it was an open kitchen attached to the dining and living space - and he’d watched as most of them pressed a hand to their chests and smiled. Vert had asked if he could hug him. For a minute he’d thought he’d done something wrong, because it seemed to him that Vert was about to cry. But he’d assured him that he was glad.

Tezz thought about these things from time to time, usually when he was alone with his research, as he was presently. Tezz smiled softly in the blue light of his screen. He reached out and tapped a data set, expanding it into its own window and pulling it out on its own, moving the new holographic monitor off to his right. He was studying isotopes and chemical residues that he’d found in the composition of the Blue Sentient datalogs. He was hoping that he could discover some form of half-life in their makeup. It wouldn’t save all of the data, but being able to determine that half-life and isolate the variables might allow them to recover some of the data. That alone could be an incredible help to their cause. 

Tezz was focused entirely on his work. There was no one else in that area of the lower levels; Sage and Corona were over by the Mobius Command Center, checking its systems and trying to see if they could make it support Kero’s respawn chamber without upsetting its Red threat detection abilities. Kero was tidying up the battle key storage or something, tightening up the security on them. They had been doing so whenever they could, ever since Sherman and Grimian had switched bodies. Tezz was reasonably sure that the keys were now in the safest place in the known multiverse, but Kero saw no point in  _ not _ adding more security to them. 

So Tezz was alone with his research for once. He was half-surrounded by screens, all displaying different pieces of data. There was a datalog on a small glass table a few feet to his left. It was one of the ones that was theoretically dead that they’d managed to swipe from the library where Corona had been found. Tezz had taken all forms of samples from it that he could think of, and he had sensors attached to it to measure the minuscule energy pulses that still ran through it. Sage had told them, when they’d found it, that it was all but useless; datalogs were supposed to lock up at a certain point if damaged. Without the tools they were written with, all of which Krytus had destroyed, it was incredibly unlikely that they’d ever be recovered.

But still, Tezz wanted to try. If he cracked the code, they could still save an almost unimaginable amount of data. More than human hard drives had the ability to store, he was sure. 

Tezz heard the elevator up to the garage hiss behind him, but he ignored it. It was probably one of the others, having forgotten something down there. That was often the case at this time of day. 

Tezz hadn’t expected the quiet cough behind him. He cocked his head and turned on his swiveling stool. A.J. stood a couple feet behind him, holding two mugs. “Hey,” he said. “I made some hot chocolate, eh? Thought you might want some.”

Tezz smiled softly and took the mug that A.J. held out to him. This was one of those things that A.J. did a lot; making hot drinks for everyone at night. Tezz in particular found that he was brought drinks a lot. A.J. liked to say that they helped everyone wind down, and given Tezz’s tendency to stay up until the early hours of the morning, growing more and more frustrated at his research, he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised by the frequent visits from A.J..

Tezz blew softly on the hot chocolate and looked up at A.J. over the rim of his mug. It was one of the many,  _ many _ mismatched collectible mugs the team had. This one read “#1 Dad”. He didn’t understand why they had such a mug; none of them were fathers, to his knowledge. Zoom claimed it was just funny, which Tezz supposed was good enough.

“How are you?” Tezz asked. A.J. had a tendency to stick around longer when Tezz was researching and he came to bring him things than the others. Often, when one of the others came to bring him food, or water, or to make sure he was alive, they came and went in a few minutes. But A.J. liked to “visit”, as he put it. Tezz didn’t mind.

A.J. beamed at Tezz. “I’m good! We’re gonna watch a movie soon, I think. You can come too if you want, eh?”

Tezz’s refusal was on the tip of his tongue when he hesitated. He didn’t usually participate in the team’s movie nights. He’d been asked to once, and the horror movie they’d been watching had been a little… much for him. He’d been alright after, but the fact that the characters had been cornered by a monster in a cave had been a little too close to his nightmares on the Red Sentient moon. When he’d explained such to A.J. he had apologized profusely and promised to make sure he warned Tezz about anything like that in the future. Still, Tezz had lost what little interest he’d had in movies for a while. 

“What kind of movie is it?” He asked.

A.J. set his mug down on the little rolling table Tezz had pulled up under his screens and grinned. “It’s an animated movie,” A.J. declared. “It’s called Tangled. It was made for kids, but I still doubled checked that there’s no caves in it, eh? I don’t think it’d scare you. There’s no monsters, either. It’s mostly just funny.” 

Tezz nodded a little. “What is it about?”

A.J. smiled even brighter, if that was even humanly possible. “Well, do you know the story of Rapunzel?”

Tezz cocked his head and thought for a minute. He wasn’t sure, though it was possible that was because of the language barrier. “I don’t believe so.”

“Do you want me to explain the basics?”

Tezz nodded, and A.J. launched into an explanation. He gestured with his hands a lot; Tezz watched his motions as he spoke. He didn’t like looking people in the eye, not that the team seemed to mind. He’d made an offhand comment about how it made him uncomfortable once, and the team had never bothered him about it. Tezz liked A.J.’s excited motions better anyways. 

He also found that, as A.J. explained the fairy tale of Rapunzel, that he was actually somewhat interested in this movie. Nodding along with what A.J. was saying, he half turned in his seat, making sure to look back at A.J. out of the corner of his eye so he’d know he was still listening, and waved across his screens. They collapsed into one, and he nudged it over to where the datalog was. 

“Wha-” A.J. broke off from his explanation as Tezz stood.

“I’d like to see this movie,” Tezz declared.

A.J. grinned again and picked up his mug. “Well come on, eh? The others are waiting for me - us - to come back.”

Tezz smiled and rolled his eyes as A.J. practically skipped back to the elevator. He followed, making sure to pull the rolling glass table along with him until he was closer to a corner of the room he could push it into. It wouldn’t do to leave it in the middle of the room. He could imagine A.J., or Spinner, or Zoom for that matter, walking directly into it and breaking it when distracted. 

They rode the elevator up to the apartment space. The lights in the games room were off, but the door stood open. Tezz noted that the armchair and the smaller couch from the living room had been dragged in.  _ Everyone must be here _ , he thought. They only needed that many seats when the whole team watched a movie together. 

Vert and Zoom were cuddled up in the armchair with a blanket around their shoulders, while Sherman, Viv, Agura, and Stanford had taken up residence on the larger couch. Sherman was on his back on one side, with Viv sprawled across his chest, and Agura mimicked the same position at the other end, Stanford laying on his side between her and the back of the couch. Their legs were all tangled in the middle. 

Sun and Grace were sharing one of the beanbag chairs, and Jax and Spinner had taken the other. That left the smaller couch for A.J. and Tezz. There was a small pile of blankets and pillows at one end, but A.J. moved them to the floor as he picked his way across the room. 

“Tezz!” Zoom cheered. He’d craned his neck around to look over to the door as A.J. had started moving around the furniture. It was a small room, for so much furniture. “You’re gonna love this movie man.”

Tezz nodded slightly and made his way over to the shorter couch. Jax and Spinner shifted their beanbag chair for him, Spinner nearly falling off of Jax’s lap in the process. Spinner yelped and Jax just laughed and kissed his temple. Tezz settled into the corner of the couch closer to the door, and after a moment’s consideration, he grabbed one of the blankets from the pile. The room wasn’t cold, really, but he wanted one anyways. 

A.J. set his mug on the side table that had been pulled up on his side of the couch and reached for the remote. “You alright with the loveseat?” Zoom asked. Tezz looked up to find Zoom looking at him.

“Pardon?”

“Is the loveseat okay for you? We could switch if you’d rather the armchair.”

Tezz furrowed his brows, frowning. “I do not know what you mean.”

“The couch,” Sherman declared. Tezz glanced over to him; he wasn’t looking at Tezz, but that was probably because he couldn’t move his head to at that angle without dumping Viv on the floor. Knowing her, she’d probably kill him. “Couches that size are called loveseats sometimes.”

Tezz nodded slowly, understanding now. English had some weird words that he still wasn’t quite used to. “It’s alright, thank you.”

Zoom smiled and gave him a thumbs up. “Cool.”

With that, A.J. started the movie. Tezz sat with his mug cradled in both hands and the blanket loosely draped around his shoulders and pooled in his lap. He had his legs tucked up under him. Tezz was a little startled when Zoom started singing along with Rapunzel in the beginning, but after a few seconds Spinner joined in and he supposed it wasn’t so strange. A.J. had told him the movie was for children, after all. It was probably one where they were supposed to sing along.

Tezz found, as the night wore on and he became more invested in Rapunzel and Flynn, that he was enjoying himself. A lot, actually. The movie was cheerful and bright, and Rapunzel was endearing. Tezz found himself laughing when she hit Flynn with her frying pan. By the time they were taking a short “intermission”, as A.J. insisted on calling it, he found he was impatient about getting back to the movie. They had paused just after the musical scene in the tavern where Rapunzel and the criminals sang about dreams, and Gothel was in the window.

Tezz needed to know what was going to happen. He didn’t like Gothel. 

Spinner turned the lights on in the room as he left to go to the bathroom. Zoom stretched, narrowly avoiding punching Vert in the face. Vert just snorted and rolled his eyes, kissing Zoom’s hair. A.J. sat forward, grinning at Tezz. “What do you think?”

Tezz smiled softly, pulling the blanket a little closer around his shoulders. “I like it. Gothel worries me, though. I don’t like her.”

“Same!” Viv mumbled. Her face was buried in Sherman’s chest, so it was a bit difficult to understand her. Tezz was reasonably sure she had been asleep until the lights came on.

“Are you cold?” A.J. asked. He was looking at the way Tezz held the blanket, with his hand tucked in. His fingers were indeed cold, but then, they almost always were. 

“A little,” he admitted.

“More hot chocolate?” A.J. offered with a grin.

Tezz smiled back and nodded. A.J. picked up their mugs and started to pick his way between the furniture and bodies to get to the kitchen. After a few seconds’ consideration, Tezz followed.

Sun and Grace were also in the kitchen, waiting for the popcorn machine to make another batch of popcorn. Tezz wondered idly if he could make it pop the popcorn faster without burning it all or starting a fire.

Though, that might be kind of funny.

A.J. set the mugs down on the counter and looked up. “Oh, you didn’t have to come with me,” he said.

Tezz only shrugged. A.J. smiled and set to work making more hot chocolate, pulling down the mix and setting the kettle to boil on the stovetop. Tezz watched, leaning back against the corner of the counter. His blanket hung from his shoulders and brushed against the counter. It wasn’t long enough, wrapped around him the way it was, to touch the floor. He was more than a bit too tall for that. 

“That popcorn machine sucks,” Jax declared from behind Tezz. He turned to see them standing in the middle of the room, where the couch - loveseat - normally sat.

“I was thinking the same,” Tezz declared.

Jax smiled. “I wonder if we could make it go faster.”

“I believe that would just cause a fire.”

Jax shrugged, much too nonchalant for someone who would have to live with the consequences. “I’d risk it.”

Tezz cocked his head and thought about it for a few seconds. It wouldn’t be hard to modify the heater in it. He nodded to Jax. “I suppose we could do that.”

They grinned and nodded. Spinner came back to the room then, wearing a hoodie now, and Jax took his hand silently as they made their way back to the games room.

Tezz turned back to A.J., who was smiling at him and shaking his head. “That thing’s gonna explode, isn’t it?”

Tezz chuckled softly. “I doubt it.”

A.J. laughed too. “That’s not very reassuring.” He passed Tezz a mug. He took it gratefully and turned back to the games room. He was eager to get back to the movie. A.J. followed behind him. He turned off the lights as they entered the room.

They settled back in and resumed the movie. Tezz watched, enraptured, as Rapunzel and Flynn fled the tavern. The movie was wonderful, though as it progressed, he also found himself watching A.J. out of the corner of his eye. He looked delighted. He was rolling a coin over and over in his hand. Tezz knew enough about ADHD to know that this was a stim. At least, he was fairly certain that was how it was said in English. Regardless, he thought it was kind of sweet. Usually, A.J. had a hard time not talking about the movie by this point, but the coin seemed to be helping to distract him enough. Even if he was still bouncing his leg too.

Tezz didn’t care to admit it, but the scene near the end of the movie where Flynn almost died brought him close to tears. He thought their relationship was wonderful, and he was glad that the movie had a happy ending.

He also found that he was sleepy by the time they’d finished watching and someone turned the lights on. The clock above the TV said it was only ten-thirty, which made the feeling highly unusual. The others slowly left the room towards their own beds, Vert carrying a sleeping Zoom and Sherman doing the same for Viv. Stanford refused to be carried despite being obviously tired, but he leaned heavily on Agura. 

Tezz headed to bed then, too. It was nice, to go to sleep at “a normal human hour”, as Spinner had called it, instead of in the middle of the night when the garage felt desolate and empty.

  
  


It had been about a week since the night Tezz had joined the rest of the team for movie night. His research was basically on hold for the time-being; the new data he had needed time to be processed by the computers. So, he was functionally without work to do. They had been making good progress in their fight against the Reds as well. They were strong as a team, and the Reds were starting to seem nervous. 

Zoom had happily declared after their mission that day that they should watch another movie. He’d been addressing the whole group, but he’d looked to Tezz after saying so.

“That would be nice,” Tezz said. Zoom grinned and started shouting something about how he got to pick the movie. Spinner started yelling too, saying that it was someone else’s turn. Tezz rolled his eyes and snuck off to his room. The group could get a little loud for him from time to time, but he liked them nonetheless. 

Only a few minutes later there was a knock on Tezz’s door. “Come in,” he called, not moving from his spot at his desk. The door opened and Vert poked his head in.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m running to the gas station to get some snacks for the movie. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to come along. I honestly don’t even know what kind of snacks you like.”

Tezz thought about it for a second. He didn’t leave the garage very much. He preferred it there. Zeke’s diner was alright from time to time, but it could also get pretty loud and busy. He’d been to the gas station once before, and that had been with most of the team. “Who’s going?” he asked.

Vert shrugged. “Just me. I was gonna take a normal vehicle instead of one of the Sentient ones. Too many tourists at the gas station.”

“Will it be busy?”

Vert frowned and looked down at his watch. “Probably not. It’s not super late yet, so the potheads shouldn’t be there looking for snacks yet, and it’s a Wednesday, so it’s unlikely any locals would be there. They usually have sales on snacks on Fridays, so that’s when people tend to go.”

Tezz nodded. “I’ll come.”

Vert grinned and waved Tezz out of his room. He grabbed his hoodie from the hook on the back of his door and pulled it on over his long-sleeved shirt. He left it unzipped and stuffed his phone in his pocket. 

Vert led Tezz down to the main level of the garage and the old grey pickup truck in the corner. It didn’t get used very much, but it was useful to have around for situations like this. They also used it for groceries, since the bed of the truck was much more convenient than any of their Sentient vehicles. 

Tezz climbed into the passenger seat. He flexed his right hand, intending to send up a small ball of electricity, then sighed when he remembered that he wasn’t wearing his glove. He didn’t wear it out of the garage usually, and he tended to forget it when he was in “civilian” clothes. He opted for fidgeting with his hoodie string instead, rolling them around and around his fingers. 

Vert fired up the engine of the truck and pulled out of the garage. The gas station wasn’t far; only about a two-minute drive. “Is everyone going to be here for the movie?” Tezz asked. 

“I think so,” Vert replied. “Sun went to get Grace, so I know she’s coming. I doubt any of the team is going to say no, so it should be everyone, yeah.”

Tezz nodded. “Are you moving the loveseat again?”

Vert smiled. “Yeah, probably. We’d have to make someone sit on the floor otherwise.”

Tezz continued to roll his string around his fingers. “You alright dude?” Vert asked after a minute.

“Yeah,” Tezz replied. “I forgot I wasn’t wearing my glove.”

Vert nodded. “Sorry dude. Want me to turn around so you can grab it?”

Tezz shook his head. “No. It would be… difficult to explain it at the gas station, to say the least.”

Vert snorted. “Yeah, you’re probably right there.”

They pulled into the parking lot then. It was empty, which Tezz was thankful for. He could see the back of a white car around the back of the building, but he knew that only the employees parked there.

The two hopped out of the truck and headed inside. Vert made his way straight to the chip aisle. “Look around!” He called to Tezz over his shoulder. “Lemme know if you find anything you want. I’m gonna grab a shitton of chips.”

Tezz nodded and wandered over to the first aisle. There were only a few, but he barely remembered where things were. Well, other than the chips and the freezer items. Those were fairly self-evident. 

The first aisle ended up being mostly toiletries and other miscellaneous things. The next aisle had candy and snacks. Tezz paused in front of the display of gummy candies. He wracked his brain to remember what kinds of candy the team liked. He knew A.J. liked the little sour watermelon slices, but he couldn’t remember anyone else’s preferences. After a minute he shrugged and pulled two bags of the sour watermelons off the rack. 

He turned towards the next aisle but hesitated at the end of it. The display at the end had what looked like oversized dice with weird add-ons on the faces. Tezz cocked his head and picked one up. The packaging cheerfully declared it a “fidget cube”. The shell of it was white, and the other part - a switch and joystick, to name a few - were blue. Tezz turned the package over, hoping to find some kind of explanation. Instead, all he got were the selling points about its features. It apparently had a ball bearing, a switch, and joystick, gears, and a few other things. Tezz wondered if it was a toy. That might explain why they were so colourful.

“What’s that?” Vert asked. He was standing in the mouth of the aisle Tezz had been heading towards. 

“I’m not sure,” he replied, holding it out to Vert. Vert took it and turned the package over.

“Oh, it’s a fidget cube!” He declared. “They’re for people to fidget with without being loud or distracting. They’re kind of like a toy, I guess. They’re for people with ADD and stuff. Spinner has a few.” He passed it back to Tezz. 

Tezz looked down at it again, frowning slightly. Spinner had some, according to Vert, but did A.J.? Would he like something like this? Tezz thought back to the way he’d been playing with a coin during their last movie night. He guessed, from how antsy A.J. had been despite the coin, that he would prefer something like this. 

But Tezz wasn’t sure if that would be a rude gesture or a kind one. He frowned, his gaze going down. He noticed, then, the shelf below. It had similar-looking toys, but they were shaped like peanuts and had a few different things on them. He cocked his head at them and picked one of them up too. Was one better than the other? It seemed like the second had more on it, but was that worthwhile?

“You can open them,” a female voice called from Tezz’s right. He startled and looked up to see the cashier leaning over the counter. She was young, definitely under eighteen, and Tezz was pretty sure she had been working there the last time he’d been to the gas station. “They’re just in a plastic box so it’s easy for me to retape them if you don’t want them. But you can see what they’re like if you want.”

Tezz nodded a little and peeled the tape off the top of the box that held the cube. He pulled it out and turned it over in his hand. It was interesting. He liked the switch on it. He pushed each of the buttons and found that some of them didn’t click. He recalled Vert’s comment about how they were meant to discreet. 

_ Interesting. _

He opened the box for the peanut-shaped one too. They were called “fidget pads”, apparently. The switch was much louder on that one - not discreet at  _ all  _ \- but the joystick was really cool. The one he held was orange, the accessories a dark grey. He really wasn’t sure which was better. He liked them both. He wasn’t sure if A.J. would like them at all. 

The bags of candy he’d left on the top shelf crinkled as Vert picked them up and added them to the overflowing basket. “We can get them if you want,” he said. 

“I’m not sure if A.J. would like one,” Tezz replied.

“You could always give them to Spinner if A.J. doesn’t like them. But I think he would.”

Tezz nodded and frowned down at the two toys. Which was better?

There was also the issue of his wanting to keep the orange one for himself, but not having money. He hadn’t seen the point in allowing Sage to set him up with a bank account, since he rarely left the garage. Now he found himself regretting that. 

“We can get more than one, dude,” Vert said. “They’re, like, five bucks.”

Tezz smiled softly and put the two wrist straps from the open toys around one wrist and grabbed the packaging. After a few more seconds of consideration, he picked up another of the peanut ones in blue and grey, and a white and orange cube. He thought A.J. would like the blue, and he liked the orange himself. 

Vert made his way over to the counter and Tezz followed. He unloaded the frankly ridiculous number of chips onto the counter. There was an assortment of candy too, the watermelon slices included. Tezz set down the fidget toys and stepped back so that Vert could deal with the transaction. Once everything was in bags, Tezz helped him carry it back to the truck. It was one with a shortened cab, so there was no backseat to put the bags in. Instead, they mostly ended up at Tezz’s feet. One was on his lap, and he was happy to find that it was the one with the fidgets in it. He unpackaged the other two and tucked them into his left pocket. He tucked the orange cube into his other pocket. The other stayed in his hand.

He supposed it was a good substitute for his glove in places where he couldn’t have it. 

Sherman and Spinner were waiting for them in the garage when they got back. Tezz passed them each a few bags before climbing out of the truck. The toy danlged from his wrist. 

They carried the bags up to the games room, where most of the team was waiting. A.J. was notably missing, as were Agura and Stanford.

“Where are the others?” Tezz asked as he set his bags down on the table. Viv, who was sitting on a beanbag chair, immediately started pulling things out of them.

“Agura’s helping Stanford find his phone cause he lost it again,” Zoom declared. “I think A.J.’s looking for something in his room or the kitchen. Not sure.”

Tezz nodded. He hadn’t seen A.J. in the kitchen when they’d walked through, but then, he hadn’t really been looking. He backed out of the games room and peered down the hall at A.J.’s bedroom door. It stood partially open, but the lights were off. Tezz turned to the kitchen instead.

Just as he stepped out into the open space, A.J. appeared from the walk-in pantry. He looked like he was pouting. “What’s the matter?” Tezz asked, wandering closer.

A.J. sighed. “I thought we had marshmallows but we don’t,” he replied. “Wanted to put them in the hot chocolate.”

There was a shuffling in the hallway and they both turned to see Zoom poking his head out of the games room. “We have marshmallows, I just brought them in here to eat them. Here.” He tossed the bag towards A.J., who fumbled it but ultimately didn’t drop it. The action made Tezz smile, though he wasn’t sure why.

“Thanks!” A.J. exclaimed. Zoom gave a thumbs up and disappeared back into the room. A.J. turned to Tezz and beamed. “Now we can have the  _ best _ hot chocolate.”

Tezz was glad that A.J. turned away when he did so he wouldn’t see the flush on his face. He wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, all of a sudden. His stomach felt light and weird and he was flushed. Was he sick?

A.J. set about making the hot chocolate, and after a moment to compose himself, Tezz shuffled closer to watch. He swung the fidget toy, still dangling from his wrist, back into his hand. He then very suddenly remembered the other ones in his pocket. “Oh!” A.J. turned at that, cocking his head at Tezz. Tezz let his own toy drop and pulled the two for A.J. out of his pocket. “I got these for you. I thought you’d like them.”

A.J. set down the spoon he’d been using and held out his hands to take the toys from Tezz. He turned them over a few times, smiling. Tezz thought his face was a little pinker than it had been a minute ago.

Was A.J. getting sick too?

“Tezz,” he said softly after a minute. He looked up at Tezz, still smiling, and Tezz’s stomach leaped. Or at least, he thought it did. A.J.’s smile looked different than normal. Tezz didn’t know  _ how _ , but it did. “Thank you. These are  _ rad _ .”

Tezz smiled and nodded weakly. He was thankful that the kettle started whistling then, distracting A.J.. While A.J. finished the hot chocolates Tezz tried to steady his racing heart. What was wrong with him? It felt like he was getting an adrenaline rush, but that didn’t make sense. But the feeling passed, so he pushed it out of his mind and took the mug from A.J. when it was offered. They joined the others - Agura and Stanford were back - in the games room.

“What’re we watching?” Agura asked. She was sitting up with her legs tucked under her and an arm around Stanford’s shoulders, leaning into him. She looked tired, and Tezz assumed she’d fall asleep during the movie. 

“Balto!” Spinner declared. “Because fuck you Zoom, it’s a good movie and you’re gonna watch it.”

Zoom rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Spinner. 

Tezz tucked himself up in the same corner of the loveseat again, a blanket around his shoulders like last time.  A.J. settled in next to him and Spinner started the movie.

This one was harder to pay attention to. Not because of the movie itself; Tezz was actually incredibly interested in the story and how it was based on a true story. But he found that his eyes kept drifting from the screen to A.J.’s hands. He was playing with the peanut-shaped toy. It made Tezz happy. He wasn’t sure if that was weird or not, but he guessed knowing that one’s gift was appreciated would make anyone happy. 

Despite his constant distraction, Tezz enjoyed the movie. It was good. He just couldn’t seem to help being distracted. 

  
  


The next night Tezz was back in the lab. His data had finally been sorted by the system he and Jax had coded and he was eager to see what patterns he could find. It was difficult for him to focus though. He was still thinking about A.J. and how happy he’d been to receive Tezz’s gift. Tezz found his thoughts drifting off his work more often than he would have liked. It had taken him an hour to finish what work he should have been able to do in half of one. Frustrated, he sat back from the monitors around him. Sage looked up from her own screens, but she didn’t say anything. 

Just then the elevators hissed, betraying a visit from one of the other team members. Tezz huffed, ready to tell them to leave because he had work to do. 

But then he saw A.J. was the one on the elevator, and the words died on his tongue. 

A.J. grinned at Tezz and waved to Sage. “Hey, I know you’re busy, but I just wanted to check real quick if you wanted to watch a movie with us, eh? Sun is out with Grace and Sherman and Viv went on a date or something so there aren’t as many of us but yeah.”

Tezz smiled at the way A.J. stumbled over his words as he rushed to get them out. “What movie?”

A.J. laughed softly. Tezz tried to ignore the sudden tightness in his chest. “Airbud. It’s about a dog that plays basketball.”

Tezz just stared at A.J. with his head cocked. His face slowly turned redder. “Yeah, I - it’s pretty dumb, sorry. Don’t worry about it, eh?”

A.J. started to turn, and Tezz found that he didn’t want him to go. “How does he play basketball?” He asked.

A.J. turned back, usual smile on his face again. “Well that’s kind of the point of the movie, so…”

Tezz looked between his research and A.J.. He wanted to watch another movie with his friends, but…

“Go.” It was Kero, who Tezz hadn’t noticed was in the room until then. “I can handle the data. Rest.” 

Tezz nodded and slid off his stool. There was no point arguing with Kero, even if he’d wanted to.

A.J. led Tezz up to the apartment. He was talking about the movie, and how he and Vert used to watch it a lot when they were kids, and how that was why Vert had picked it. 

“I know it’s kinda dumb, but it’s cute too,” he explained. He picked up two mugs from the counter as they passed, and Tezz wondered who the other was for until he held it out to him. Face growing warm, he took it. 

Had A.J. somehow known he would agree?

Probably not. He’d probably planned to give it to someone else if Tezz said no. Still, it was nice, considering how cold Tezz was. He could finally feel his fingers again, now that he had something warm in his hands. Sentient technology wasn’t the warmest thing to work with, and though he usually didn’t mind he’d been freezing all day. 

The games room was indeed emptier than it usually was on a movie night. Sherman and Viv had been replaced on the couch by Jax and Spinner, and Sun’s usual beanbag was empty too. The loveseat hadn’t been moved, so the only seats were the beanbag chairs. A.J. motioned for Tezz to follow him and took a seat in one of the beanbag chairs. Tezz followed suit, immediately snatching a blanket from the pile once his mug was safely on the coffee table. 

“Cold?” Vert asked. Tezz just nodded and pulled the blanket around him. He shifted around until he was more settled in the beanbag chair. 

The movie hadn’t even been on for ten minutes when Tezz finished his hot chocolate. He was still cold too, and now that the mug wasn’t nice and warm on his fingers, they were getting cold again. He pulled them inside his blanket cocoon and huffed softly. So much for warming him up.

Tezz caught A.J.’s glance out of the corner of his eye and turned to look at him. A.J. cocked his head at him, as if to ask him what was wrong. Tezz just pulled the blanket closer. A.J. pointed to the pile of them, but Tezz just shrugged. He didn’t have much warmth for the blankets to reflect back at him anyways. Another one wasn’t going to help. 

A.J. lifted his arm a bit, and for a second Tezz wasn’t sure what he was trying to communicate. Then it clicked and he was very thankful for the fact that A.J. wouldn’t see him blushing because the lights were off. 

A.J. was offering to cuddle with him so he could warm up. 

If it was anyone else, Tezz knew he would have refused outright and just suffered until he could go take a warm shower later and get some feeling back. But it was A.J., and something about the earnest look on his face made a difference.

Tezz found himself scooting closer to A.J. without remembering having decided to do so. A.J. lifted his arm up and Tezz opened up his blanket cocoon so he could press himself up against A.J.’s side. A.J. flinched slightly and Tezz couldn’t help the quiet laugh that escaped him. He pressed himself close to A.J. and pulled the blanket tight around them. A.J.’s arm settled around his shoulders, and Tezz sighed happily at the warm weight. 

A.J. pulled Tezz a little closer and leaned his head down a bit. “You’re  _ freezing _ ,” he whispered. His mouth was right next to Tezz’s ear; Tezz was sure the others couldn’t hear him. Tezz let out a laugh that was more of a quick exhale than anything else. He let his head rest against A.J.’s collarbone. Already he was warming up; his face and neck were warm. 

It was a little later on when Tezz leaned up a bit to whisper in A.J.’s ear. “Why do they allow the dog?” He asked.

A.J. shifted so he could whisper back. “I don’t know. I guess he’s really good?”

Tezz smiled. “Better than the children?”

A.J. fought back a laugh; Tezz could feel the rumble of it in his chest, and the dizzy feeling in his own chest that rose up with it. “I guess so.”

Tezz’s hands were still cold. Partially out of curiousity, and partially because he could barely feel his fingers, Tezz pressed his hands to A.J.’s chest. It made him jump again, and for a second Tezz thought that he’d done something wrong, but then A.J. covered both of his hands with one of his. Tezz pressed himself a bit closer and let his eyes fall shut.

He was… content. He wasn’t used to cuddling; he had a hard time with physical contact most of the time. But this was nice. 

Tezz felt A.J.’s cheek against his hair and smiled. He found he didn’t want to open his eyes. The movie was nice and all, but this was better. 

  
  


They ended up falling asleep like that. When Tezz woke up, it was a few hours later. The lights were still off, but the TV was also off now. The clock on the DVD player said it was almost two in the morning. Tezz blinked into the darkness a few times, trying to push the sleepiness back. A.J. was still holding him close, and he was snoring softly. It sounded more like snuffles, in Tezz’s opinion. His face was buried in Tezz’s hair now, and at some point Tezz had curled into A.J. more and pulled his legs up into his lap. 

Tezz shook A.J. gently. He snuffled again and then sighed, and the arm that had been around Tezz was lifted so he could stretch. Tezz was a little disappointed that A.J. had let him go, but he wasn’t sure why.

Then A.J. rested his arm across Tezz’s back again and Tezz hummed happily. He lifted his head from A.J.’s chest and rubbed at his eyes.

“What time is it?” A.J. mumbled. His voice was slow and rough from sleep; Tezz found himself blushing. 

He must really have a cold or something.

“Almost two,” Tezz replied, just as soft. 

A.J. hummed softly and ran his free hand through his hair. 

“We should go to bed,” he said. Tezz sighed softly. He didn’t really want to go to bed. He liked the way A.J.’s voice sounded when he was sleepy, and he was comfy.

Still, Tezz agreed. He knew his knees and back would be sore. And his neck. And probably the rest of his body too.

But still, he didn’t really want to get up.

Together the two of them trudged to their bedrooms. A.J. paused at his door and yawned, then waved to Tezz. “Night, Tezz,” he mumbled.

“Goodnight, A.J.,” Tezz replied. A.J. disappeared into his room, and for a minute Tezz stood in his doorway and stared at A.J.’s door. Then he sighed softly and turned into his own room, letting the door fall shut behind him.

  
  


As it turned out, Tezz was in love.

Or he was falling in love anyways. 

He just wasn’t sure what to do about it.

Things had gotten more chaotic with the Reds again, and Tezz had thrown himself back into his research. They needed every bit of information and help they could get. 

Even if that meant that he didn’t get movie nights anymore.

Tezz missed it, honestly. He hadn’t cared about them until a month ago, but now he really missed watching movies with the team. It helped that the last time, he’d fallen asleep against A.J.. That had been nice. He wanted to do that again. But there wasn’t really an excuse to do that outside of movie nights. And now that he knew he enjoyed it because he was falling in love with A.J., he was kind of scared of it too. 

He had no clue how A.J. felt about him either. 

So Tezz focused on his research. He stuck to the numbers and data points that he could decipher and make sense of. They were easier for him than people had ever been. He knew what they were there for, and what they wanted, and how to fit them into the larger picture.

One misstep with numbers only meant a mathematical error and a bit of wasted time. A misstep with A.J. could mean everything.

Tezz spent countless hours in the Hub. He forgot the time of day more often than he remembered it. He lost track of what the rest of the team was doing. He barely saw the others outside of missions. And even then, sometimes he was so tired or distracted that it felt like he wasn’t seeing them anyways. 

He knew he didn’t have to spend that much time working. He could have worked half as hard and they would have been okay. He spent half of his time cursing at the data in Serbian instead of making progress, but he refused to stop. 

He knew he was avoiding his problems, but he couldn’t help it. 

He’d noticed the looks the others gave him whenever he resurfaced, too. They were worried; that much he could figure out. He looked like hell. His eyes were darker than normal, and he was pretty sure he looked a little gaunt. He’d been forgetting to eat more than he cared to admit. 

But still, he couldn’t help it. If he tried to act more normally, he’d have to confront his feelings for A.J., and maybe it was cowardly, but he found that harder than what he was doing already. At least this way he had enough reasons to force himself not to think about it. 

It was another one of those days, when Tezz had lost track of everything but the data on his screen, that he was startled by a hand on his shoulder. He jolted, flew off his stool, and turned to face whoever it was behind him with his right hand up and ready.

It was a good thing he  _ didn’t _ have his glove on, considering it was A.J.. A.J. had sprung back as soon as Tezz had moved, and his hands were in the air. “I’m sorry!” He exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to scare you! But I said your name, like, ten times, and I didn’t think you heard me, so I thought…”

Tezz let his hand fall to his side and rubbed at his face with the other. “It’s alright,” he mumbled. He climbed back on his stool and sat facing A.J.. “What did you need?”

“I came to check on you,” A.J. said. “Haven’t seen you in like a day.”

Tezz shrugged. “I’m here.”

A.J. frowned. “Are you alright? You look really pale.”

Tezz sighed softly. “I’m fine.”

A.J.’s frown only got deeper. “Really? Cause you look like you’re about to pass out.”

Tezz huffed. “I’m  _ fine _ .” He ignored the way his vision wobbled and turned back to the screens.  _ Please leave. I’m too tired to avoid mistakes _ .

“Tezz,” A.J. said. His voice was far more forceful than Tezz had ever heard it. He half-turned his stool back towards A.J.. “When was the last time you slept?”

Tezz looked down at his watch, realizing once he did that that wasn’t going to help if he didn’t know what day it was. He tried to trace back his memories.

“When was the last time you got up from these screens?” A.J. continued. “What was the last thing you ate? When was the last time you had a drink?”

Tezz groaned and started to stand up, hoping to use his height to make A.J. just  _ shut up and go away before he said something stupid _ . 

Instead, he promptly lost his balance. His legs felt weak and light, and Tezz pitched forward. Thankfully, A.J. caught him before he could hit the ground. 

“ _ Shit _ ,” A.J. whispered. He lowered Tezz to the ground so that he was sitting with his back against his stool. “Tezz, c’mon, hey.” He felt A.J.’s hand brushing against his forehead.

Tezz opened his eyes, which refused to focus. He winced, blinked hard, and tried again. Still, they wouldn’t focus on anything. He was very dizzy all of a sudden. 

Tezz was vaguely aware of a commotion in the background, and though he couldn’t focus, he saw an approaching blue blob. He assumed it was Sage, since Corona was more of a scholar than a medic. 

He was proven right a few seconds later when he heard her voice. “What happened?” She asked. Tezz opened his mouth, but he couldn’t find any words. It was like trying to pick up water with his hands.

“He just… collapsed,” A.J. said after a few seconds. “I was trying to tell him to go to bed and he stood up and just fell.”

He heard a soft, concerned sigh from Sage, and then he felt her cool hand against his forehead. He huffed angrily, but he couldn’t find the energy to lift his hand and push her away.

“He is ill,” Sage declared after feeling his forehead and taking his pulse. “He needs to rest. I…” She paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, A.J.. We knew he was pushing himself too hard, but we couldn’t get him to stop.”

There was shuffling around him and then one of Tezz’s arms was being lifted and laid across A.J.’s shoulders. “It’s okay,” A.J. said quietly. He lifted Tezz into his arms easily, and despite himself, Tezz let himself be held. “That’s what I’m here for.”

A.J. carried Tezz to the elevator. “I’m fine,” he protested weakly as they started to go up. A.J. just snorted and shifted his weight slightly. He tried to open his eyes so he could at least see where he was, but all he could see was brightness and colour, so he gave up. 

Tezz tensed when they reached the apartment level, realizing the fuss his being carried would cause. “Relax,” A.J. said. “The others all went to Zeke’s. No one’s gonna see.”

Tezz nodded slightly and let his head fall against A.J.’s shoulder. A.J. carried him the rest of the way to his room and set him down on his bed. Tezz tried to sit up, but A.J. pushed him back. “C’mon, man, you can’t even keep your eyes open, just go to bed.”

“I’m fine,” Tezz hissed, propping himself up on his elbow. 

“No you’re not!” A.J. shouted. Tezz jumped, falling back on his bed. His eye flew open, vision wheeling as he tried to focus on A.J.. “You’re not fine, Tezz, you’re killing yourself! You can barely hold your head up! You can’t keep working! I-”

A.J. cut himself off then, and there was a long silence. “Sorry, I’m…” A.J. sighed. Then, Tezz heard his footsteps retreating. Tezz stayed where he was for a minute.

A.J. was mad at him.

_ No. _

Tezz forced himself up until he was sitting. He grabbed hold of the corner of his nightstand and pushed himself to his feet. For once, he was thankful that his room was one of the smaller ones. He was able to reach his desk from the nightstand, and from there he could grab onto the doorframe. A.J.’s room was just one door down and across the narrow hall. The door was open. 

Tezz clung to the wall as he shuffled to A.J.’s door. His body was clammy and he was pretty sure he was shivering. He felt colder than hell, which really should have worried him more than it did, considering that wasn’t the case a moment ago. 

But he really needed to apologize.

He made it to A.J.’s door. He leaned heavily against the frame, trying desperately to calm the spinning in his head. He didn’t think he could open his eyes or he’d faint. 

“Oh for fuck’s-” A.J. said as Tezz no doubt entered his line of sight. “Tezz, what are you  _ doing _ ?”

“I’m sorry,” Tezz gasped. He clung to the door frame so hard his fingers hurt, but it was the only thing holding him upright. 

A.J. couldn’t be mad at him. Tezz couldn’t handle it.

A.J. couldn’t be mad at him. He had to make it right.

He had to. 

“ _ Shit _ ,” A.J. hissed. There was a loud crash, as if he’d stood up so fast that his desk chair fell over, and then A.J. was pulling Tezz away from the doorframe and into his side. Which was good, considering his legs decided to give out at that moment. He all but fell into A.J.’s arms. A.J. took it in stride, guiding Tezz over to his bed. It was softer than Tezz’s. A.J. helped Tezz lay down on his back, but Tezz almost immediately rolled onto his side and curled in on himself. 

“Hey, hey,” A.J. whispered, brushing Tezz’s hair back from his face. “It’s alright.”

Tezz nodded slightly, but he couldn’t shake the clenching feeling in his chest, or the thought that he’d made an irreparable mistake with A.J.. He was cold and clammy because he was exhausted, he was shivering from the cold, and he was trembling too. He couldn’t steady himself. 

The bed shifted as A.J. sat down next to Tezz. Tezz opened his eyes, and though it was a bit tilted and fuzzy, he could see for the most part. The only light in the room was the lamp on the bedside table. A.J. was looking down at Tezz fretfully. When he saw that Tezz had his eyes open he smiled softly and picked up one of Tezz’s hands. He pressed his palm to his chest and breathed slowly and deeply. Tezz followed suit instinctively, and after a few minutes, he began to feel a bit better.

Not entirely, because he was still exhausted and frozen, but he was a little bit less afraid. 

He took his hand back from A.J. gently, pushing his hair back again. A.J. smiled down at him, and Tezz’s chest tightened again. This time though, it wasn’t quite so frightening. 

Tezz just watched A.J. for a minute. He had his head cocked a bit and he was smiling at Tezz, but he seemed a little confused too. “Are you cold?” He finally asked.

“Frozen,” he replied. 

“Here,” A.J. said, lifting the covers. Tezz shimmied under them, and once he was satisfied that Tezz was covered, A.J. followed. A.J. settled in, and before he’d even stopped moving, Tezz was out. 

  
  


Tezz woke up a few hours later sprawled across A.J.’s chest. He was still tired, but he didn’t feel sick or delirious, so that was nice. He lifted his head. A.J. mumbled something in his sleep and started to lift his head, only to smack it off the underside of one of the slats in his headboard. Tezz wasn’t sure how he’d gotten his head there in the first place. “Ow.”

Tezz laughed softly. “Are you alright?”

A.J. snorted. “I’m fine, thanks for the concern. Just hurts a little.”

Tezz rolled his eyes affectionately and leaned closer to A.J., who stilled. Tezz pressed a soft kiss to the spot before laying back. “There. It’s fixed now.”

A.J. laughed then, a loud and bubbling laugh. Tezz could feel it through his chest. He smiled and snuggled up close to A.J.. A.J. stilled again for a few seconds before wrapping his arms around Tezz and holding him closer. “God, you’re adorable,” he whispered. 

Tezz hummed happily. He thought he could hear A.J. spluttering, apparently caught off guard by his own comment, but he paid it no mind. “As are you.”

A.J. went silent for a moment. “Wait, really?”

Tezz smiled and lifted his head again, this time shifted so that he was propped up on his elbows on either side of A.J.’s chest. He felt daring, after having woken up in A.J.’s bed. What was it that Zoom had said once? 

You can’t know what will happen if you never try?

“Of course,” Tezz replied easily. A.J.’s face was turning red, and Tezz knew he was blushing too, but he just didn’t care anymore. “You’ve always been adorable.”

A.J. smiled up at Tezz in that way that made his stomach flip. Tezz smiled back at him. A.J. reached up with one hand to cup his cheek. “You have such a beautiful smile,” he sighed. 

“As do you,” Tezz replied easily.

A.J. chuckled softly. “You can’t just keep saying that to everything I say.”

Tezz chuckled too and shifted so that he could lean closer to A.J.’s face. Once again, he stilled. “Oh? Then what should I say?”

For once, he was kidding.

He knew what to say. 

He knew what this was.

He knew what he wanted. 

_ A.J.. _

“Should I say that you make me happy?” Tezz asked. He pressed a kiss to A.J.’s cheek. “Should I tell you that you’ve made me feel emotions I wasn’t sure I could?” Another kiss, to his other cheek. “That I think I’ve been falling in love with you for almost a year and I just didn’t realize it until last week?” He kissed the tip of A.J.’s nose. He backed away slowly, though he didn’t go far.

A.J. stared up at him, mouth slightly agape but smiling and tears rolling down his cheeks. Tezz reached out gently and wiped one away. A.J. still had one hand on Tezz’s face, and he brought his other up to hold his head in both hands. He swiped his thumbs across Tezz’s cheekbones; Tezz was surprised to feel that they came away wet. He hadn’t realized that he was crying too. 

“ _ Tezz _ ,” A.J. whispered. He truly sounded like he was about to start sobbing. “I-” He paused for a second. “I think I love you too.”

Tezz smiled so wide it  _ hurt _ and leaned closer. He was laughing, giddy and breathless. He pressed his forehead to A.J.’s. He wanted to kiss him so  _ badly _ . 

But he didn’t know how.

Their giggles calmed slowly, and Tezz stayed hovering just above A.J.. “Tezz?” He asked. 

“ _ I want to kiss you so bad but I don’t know what to do _ ,” Tezz whispered, all in one swift breath. He could feel his lips brushing A.J.’s as he spoke, but he wasn’t sure how to make it work. 

“I- That, yeah, that I can do,” A.J. whispered. The brushing of their lips sent shivers down Tezz’s spine.

“ _ Please _ ,” Tezz gasped. He didn’t care anymore how he sounded. All he wanted was this kiss.

He would die for this kiss.

A.J. brought their lips together and Tezz saw  _ stars _ . He suddenly understood why people enjoyed kissing so much. It was everything he’d wanted for the last week and so much more. 

He never wanted it to end. 

When A.J. did pull back, he didn’t go very far. “Hang on,” he whispered to Tezz’s small angry huff. “Hang on.” He gently nudged Tezz back and onto his side and then he laid down on his side next to Tezz. He hooked one arm - his left - under the pillows. His right hand still rested on Tezz’s face. “There. Don’t want you to hurt your wrist.”

Tezz smiled and snaked his right arm under A.J.’s side. He splayed his hand across A.J.’s shoulder blade. His other hand roamed and he leaned in again. Their lips met and Tezz sighed happily. He let his hand run along A.J.’s arm his side, his back. He wanted to memorize every bit of A.J.. He wanted to know all the little marks he carried and their stories. 

They broke apart only far enough to ask each other if certain things were okay, if they liked this or that, if they were comfortable. They stayed like that for what must have been hours, though Tezz knew he couldn’t trust his internal clock at this point. A.J. was making his head spin in the best way possible; the time was the least of his concerns.

He was pretty sure the Reds could find Earth and he’d only shrug. 

They were finally forced apart for more than a few seconds when the door opened. The person had probably knocked, to be fair, but Tezz hadn’t heard a damn thing. “Hey, A-  _ SHIT _ !” The door slammed shut. Tezz couldn’t help it; he broke away from A.J. and started laughing. 

“I’m sorry!” Spinner shouted through the door. A.J. snickered. Tezz could hear his quickly retreating footsteps in the hallway. Distantly, he heard Spinner shouting “I found them guys!” 

Tezz really just  _ did not care _ . 

He knew that sooner or later they’d have to leave this room, and this haze, and talk to the team. But it didn’t matter. Tezz didn’t have to do it alone.

A.J. leaned back in and captured his lips. With a happy sigh, Tezz leaned up into the kiss and let go of any coherent thought that wasn’t  _ A.J., A.J., A.J.. _

**Author's Note:**

> Once again seeking validation.


End file.
